


I’ll Be There For You

by stvrmxra



Category: The 100
Genre: 5+1 Things, AU, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Fireworks, First Kiss, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Modern AU, Parties, Prom, pools, zaven
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-24
Updated: 2018-08-24
Packaged: 2019-06-15 16:42:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15417204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stvrmxra/pseuds/stvrmxra
Summary: Five times Zeke wanted to kiss Raven more than anything, and the one time he does.





	I’ll Be There For You

**Author's Note:**

> So I created this draft on July 24th, and I only did two of the six things in a month. Archive automatically deletes something from your drafts after a month, and I literally had to finish this in three days because I didn’t want to delete it. About fifteen minutes ago, I accidentally published it when I was trying to save it, so then I had to speed up the ending in case someone read it. 
> 
> This is kinda my take on a 5+1 thing. I guess I succeeded in finishing on time, but this is not the best I could have done. Please leave feedback if you like it or don’t, that would be appreciated.

i.

Zeke Shaw met Raven Reyes when he was eight years old.

His friend John Murphy invited him to his birthday pool party in June, and everyone there knew how to swim except for him. It’s not like he was afraid of the water or anything, he just didn’t like the idea of swimming in a giant, in-ground bathtub outside and it was always too cold in Michigan, so he never learned.

Zeke sat on the middle step in the shallow end while everyone else played together in the deep end, no one sparing him a glance. He didn’t know any of the kids there and he was new to town so being ignored didn’t hurt his feelings, but even if someone he didn’t know would come talk to him he would feel better and less awkward.

As if his thoughts were being read, a girl he didn’t know burst up from the water in front of him. Zeke held in a shriek, but he couldn’t stop his body from jumping. The mystery girl giggled as she sat on his left and cocked her head to study him.

“What’s wrong with you? Why aren’t you playing with everyone?” She asked, her smile bright and eyes full of laughter.

He didn’t know why his cheeks started to heat up, or why he felt more embarrassed than he had with anyone who asked before, but he chose to ignore it as he told her, “I can’t swim.”

Her smile didn’t falter. “What’s your name?” 

“Miles, but everyone calls me Zeke.”

“You won’t be bored for much longer, Zeke. My names Raven, and I’ve come to your boredness rescue.”

Maybe it was the childish confidence that radiated off of her, but he believed what she said completely. 

“Watch this,” she whispered as she turned to the group at the deep end of the pool. “Hey guys, come here.” 

Zeke watched in awe as everyone’s heads perked up, glancing toward him and Raven. Next thing he knew, there was a group of kids standing in front of them, looking at Raven expectantly. “This is Zeke,” she said, lifting her wet hand to his shoulder, “and he can’t swim, so let’s stay over here so he can play with us.”

“I forgot about that,” Murphy said, and he looked to Zeke with an apologetic look.

He just sat there with a dumbstruck look on his features, looking around at all the inviting eyes. “O...okay,” he said, and he smiled a small, genuine smile back at Raven. 

They had slipped off the step and onto the smooth pool bottom, the water coming up to their shoulders.

“I’m Bellamy,” a short boy with floppy dark hair said as Zeke stepped in front of him. 

“Zeke,” he replied back.

He continued learning names until he knew Bellamy, Clarke, Nathan (who wanted to be called Miller), Monty, Jasper, Harper, and of course Raven. An hour of splashing and a piece of cake later, Zeke’s mom came to Murphy’s house to pick him up. He had made so many new friends and was having so much fun that his mom nearly had to drag him out of the pool with her hands.

“Miles, sweetie, it’s time to go,” she said behind him, and he could hear that she was about to get mad.

“I have to go, Raven,” he said, turning to the girl that was already looking at him. She smiled, reaching her small arms out for a hug. “Bye Zeke. I hope I see you at school.” 

He pulled away and looked at her youthful brown eyes, and he had no idea what came over him but he wanted to kiss her. 

“Gross!” He nearly shouted aloud, but he couldn’t deny that he wanted to do it. 

But instead of doing it, he turned around and stepped out of the pool, drying off with his towel and taking his mother’s hand as she led him through Ms. Murphy’s house and back to the car.

ii.

Zeke has remained friends with everyone since Murphy’s birthday party all those years ago, and some new people have come in as well. Emori (with the badass hand, who obviously has a thing for Murphy), Echo (who keeps staring at Bellamy, and it’s driving Clarke mad), and Octavia (Bellamy’s sister who’s two years younger than the rest of them, but she’s pretty cool).

It’s the summer before ninth grade, and the group is going to Clarke’s land for the Fourth of July. They’re going to have a barbecue and swim, and when it gets dark enough, watch fireworks. Zeke somehow convinced his mom to let him light fireworks with everyone else, and he’s super excited for the night. 

Mrs. Green’s car pulls into his driveway, and he runs out the door after kissing his mom goodbye. “Hey guys,” he says, pulling open the car door and sitting in the closest available seat. Octavia texted she didn’t feel well and wasn’t coming, so Bellamy sits alone next to Zeke, while Echo, Harper, Emori, and Raven are squished in the backseat. 

He turns around to glance at Raven, and she gives him a pleading look as she pulls her hand out from under Emori’s leg. She’s wearing a pair of jean shorts and a short red tank top, and he can’t say it looks bad on her. 

Zeke and Raven have been best friends since that day at Murphy’s pool, and the two bonded over being the two smartest kids in the grade and their mutual parent issues. They tell each other everything, but there’s one secret that he hasn’t had the guts to tell her. 

He likes her. A lot. 

Murphy is the only living soul who knows, but only because he told him about his crush on Emori. 

The car ride to Clarke’s is full of laughter and small talk, and they immediately jump in when they arrive. Zeke got his mom to take him to swim lessons the day after he met everyone, and it’s still the best decision he’s ever made. 

They swim and eat for three hours, and before long, it’s dark out and they start to light the fireworks. Raven and Zeke stand next to each other as the colorful explosions appear in the star-dusted sky, and he hesitantly lifts his right arm to lay across her shoulders. 

Her smile is small but evident, and she turns her head toward him. He’s taller than her by a couple inches, but not by much. Their eyes meet, and Zeke’s lips tingle with the thought of kissing her.

He flicks his eyes to her lips so fast if she blinked she would have missed it (she didn’t), and he sees her take in a breath. They keep eye contact until an extra loud firework pops above them, and they look back to the night sky. Zeke gulps, trying to keep down the overwhelming feelings that surfaced at bay. He can feel her eyes giving him small glimpses, but he ignores them as he tries to console his beating heart.

iii.

Zeke wasn’t much of a party person, but he somehow let Raven drag him into the middle of the biggest high school party of the year. “Junior year is the most stressful year, so it’s okay to have fun every once and a while. Also, I’ll kill you if you don’t come,” were her exact words, and he’d rather come to a party he doesn’t want to go to than die at the hands of Raven Reyes.

No one else in the entire group would agree to come with him, mostly because “Raven is scary when she’s drunk” and they didn’t want to deal with her. 

“How did I get suckered into this again?” Zeke mutters as he walks through crowded hallways, trying to find Raven who snuck off thirty minutes ago. Sweaty bodies brush him as he squeezes past, and he tries to touch the least amount of skin possible. 

He finally makes it into main room, but it’s also filled to the max. Couples make out in the corners and the music vibrates through the floor, but all the noise stops as he finally spots her dancing with the biggest asshole in the school, Finn Collins.

Once he told Zeke that Raven would never like him because he “has no balls.” It didn’t make sense to him, but the insult was evident. 

Finn turns then and sees him standing there watching them, and a condescending smirk grows on his face. Zeke turns before he can’t hold himself back, and he walks straight out the front door to the deserted porch.

He stands there and takes a deep breath, the hurt trying to ease its way into his bones. “You should have seen this coming,” his mind tells him. “You knew she didn’t like you.”

He leans his elbows on the railing and faces the street, a slight breeze blowing the unzipped ends of his jacket. Sighing, he runs a hand over his short curls as the door opens and someone else decides to leave the party. 

“Why’d you come out here?” Raven asks as she leans into the railing beside him, and he shivers at her voice.

“You looked like you were having fun, so I left you to it,” he replies, not meeting her eyes. 

“I was having fun, until that asshole Finn kept trying to get on me. I may be drunk but I can still beat a bitch.” 

Her voice still somehow sounds clear, even though she’s had more than a few drinks in the last couple hours. Zeke can tell when she’s drunk because she speaks her mind to him, something she doesn’t do when she’s with someone else. He also knows that Raven doesn’t remember anything the morning after she gets drunk, so he feels boundless as he doesn’t have to hold any of his feelings back.

Zeke looks over to his best friend, and she turns her beautiful face to look back at him. “So you don’t like Finn?” He asks, and she laughs in response. 

“Me? Liking that guy? Hell no. I’ve got standards, and he doesn’t meet any one of them.”

He grins and looks at his boots, his smile threatening to expose himself. 

“Besides, I have my eye on someone else,” she whispers heavily as she places a hand on his cheek. His face heats up as he meets her gaze, and he lifts his hand to mirror hers.

His smile shrinks as an important thought comes to mind, and he leans his forehead on hers and squeezes his eyes shut, sighing against her lips. “You’re drunk,” he states, and Raven breathes out.

“Not that drunk,” she faintly slurs. 

“You’re drunk enough to not know what you’re saying, and I won’t take advantage of that. I want you to remember our first kiss.” 

“First kiss, huh?” She smirks, and Zeke goes weak in the knees. “You want it too?”

“More than anything.”

He leans in to kiss her cheek, and Raven’s eyelids flutter shut as she relaxes into his lips. 

“Someday, Reyes. Someday you’ll be mine.”

She smiles dreamily as she rests her head on his shoulder, but as soon as Zeke feels at peace, the sirens start. 

The cops were in the alleyway behind the house, and drunk high schoolers were running out the door like it was an Olympic race. He pulls her to his car parked a street over, and he starts the journey home. 

After a couple of minutes, Zeke takes a peek at Raven and sees that she fell asleep with her head against the window. A smile overcomes his lips, and he turns back toward the road. 

He’ll wait for her, he decides. He’ll wait as long as it takes.

iv.

Zeke remembers the moment the hospital called vividly. 

It was Doctor Griffin, Clarke’s mother, calling to tell him that Raven was in a severe accident and she was in the ER. She said something more, but it was just static as he sprinted out his house and sped toward the hospital.

He came to the floor the doctor told him about, and found Murphy’s mom, Bellamy, Clarke, Emori, Echo, Octavia, Monty, Harper, and Miller sitting pale in the waiting room.

“Oh thank God,” Clarke said as she crushed him in a hug. He squeezed her tightly before pulling back and looking at her with wide eyes.

“What the hell happened?” He asked, and she sighed, running a hand through her messy blonde hair. 

“Come sit,” she said, and he followed her back to her seat. He sat between Emori and Clarke, Emori looking just as shaken as Zeke felt. 

“Raven and Murphy were hit by someone running a red light. The car slammed into the passenger side, and they said Raven was unconscious when they arrived. They haven’t said anything about their conditions yet.”

Zeke nodded silently, and that’s when a nurse appeared and spoke out, “Is there any family of Raven Reyes?” 

He sprung out of his chair immediately, and he slowly stepped up to the lady in the doorway. “Are her parents here?” She asked, and Zeke felt like his mouth was sewn shut as he shook his head.

“He’s her boyfriend,” Emori called out behind him, and he turned and gave her a grateful glance. The nurse nodded, smiling sympathetically at him as she turned into the hallway with Zeke in tow. They approached a room with a curtain drawn around a bed, and she stepped up to the person lying in it, Zeke following her in. Dr. Griffin walked in behind them, and the nurse snuck out quietly.

Nothing could prepare him for the sight of his best friend, his childhood crush, lying in a white hospital bed, tan skin pale and covered in scrapes and bruises. 

Instantly he was at her side, dropping into the chair and gently grasping her cold hand. He looked up at the doctor with big, scared eyes, and she sighed lightly.

“Raven was riding with Mr. John Murphy when a car ran a red light going sixty miles an hour. The window exploded, and a piece of glass flew between her back and the seat. When she slammed backward, the glass tapped into her spine.

“We took her straight into emergency surgery, and we’ve successfully gotten the glass out of her back. However, there was severe damage to her nerves. We can’t say for sure where exactly the damage will be, we’ll have to wait until she wakes up.”

“When will she wake up?” Zeke swallowed, his voice timid.

Dr. Griffin sighed again. “She’s in a coma now. We’re not sure how long it will take her. It’s not fatal, but it might be a couple of days.”

“She’s the strongest person I know,” he says, looking at Raven again. “She’ll be up soon.”

So Zeke sat in the hospital for three days straight, only getting up to use the bathroom. When visiting hours were over, he’d sleep in the waiting room, and he’d be the first person by her side when the hours started again. His mom and friends were constantly willing him to go home and rest, but they gave up after a day and let him be.

He’s sitting by her bed now, holding her hand and resting his forehead on the hard mattress. Monty just came by with cafeteria food, and Zeke only ate it to make his friend happy. School doesn’t start for one more day, and he’s praying that she wakes up soon. 

Just as Zeke’s starting to doze off, there’s a soft grip on his hand. His head shoots up, and he meets the loving eyes of Raven Reyes. In seconds he’s hugging her gently, and she’s raising her arms to weakly wrap around his neck.

“Don’t you ever scare me like that again,” he whispers in her ear, and she coughs a dry laugh.

“No promises,” she whispers back, and she untangles her arms from him as he leaves to tell the doctor she’s awake. 

“How’re you doing, Raven,” Dr. Griffin says when they walk back in, and Zeke notices straightaway the look of terror resting on her features. 

“What’s wrong?” He asks as he drops into the uncomfortable chair by her bedside. 

“I can’t feel my leg,” she whispers, and they both turn to Abby.

“I’m going to do a test real fast. Tell me if you feel something.” She pulls out a small stick of metal like an unfolded paper clip, and she slides it up Raven’s right foot. They all watch in anticipation as her toes move, and Zeke breathes out inaudiably.

“Yeah, I felt it,” She says quietly. 

“Now the left,” Dr. Griffin says, stepping to the other side of the bed. She repeats the process, but Raven’s foot stays still. Zeke turns to her, and he watches her gulp as tears form in her eyes. 

Abby peeks up at her and does it again, but her foot doesn’t move. “Raven, tell me when you feel something,” She says, and she moves the stick up her leg. 

“There,” She says as she hits the spot just above her knee, and Zeke swallows as the realization hits him. 

The doctor sighs. “Raven, it appears that you have significant damage to the nerves in your left leg.” 

Raven breathes out, trying to control the tears that are forming quickly. “Will I be able to walk again?” She asks, the fear evident in her shaky voice. 

“For a while, you’ll have to be on crutches. We can move you a brace, and hopefully that will help you to walk.” 

She lets out a strangled sob, and Zeke knows she’s trying not to sound weak. “So I’m a cripple?” She asks in a voice that he’s never heard before. It rips his heart in half. 

Abby sighs and meets her eyes. “I’ll give you two some time,” she says before pushing the curtain aside and closing it behind her, leaving the two alone together.

Raven starts to cry, and it hurts Zeke as much as it hurts Raven. She had her whole future in front of her, and all that’s coming to an abrupt halt because of one accident.

Tears spring up in Zeke’s eyes, and he entwines her fingers with his. She looks up at him through wet eyelashes, and she scoots over to make room for him in the bed. 

He takes the space and lies down, pulling her face into his chest securely. Pressing his lips to her head, he silently wishes he could comfort her with all the kisses in the world. Instead, he pulls her trembling body into his tighter, careful of her leg, and lets her cry into his shirt. 

As he sits with her, a few tears slipping down his cheeks, he vows that he will be with her every step of her recovery. Zeke Shaw will make sure she’s going to be okay, even if it’s the last thing he does.

v.

Raven recovered pretty fast, and Zeke couldn’t be prouder with how well she handled her situation. Sure there were moments where school was hard and physical therapy was excruciating, but she always came out on top. 

She was the only one who could get him to leave the hospital that week in January, and she got released a day after that. Murphy kept blaming himself for her injury, but she shut that down as soon as she heard it. He remembers walking into school with Raven at his side, and all the looks her brace got as she limped down the hallway. But the eyes couldn’t faze her, and she ignored them for the rest of the day. 

Soon enough, the brace became a part of her. Kids stopped staring at her, and she accepted the fact that she could never be back to the full ability she used to have.

Senior year was a tough one for everyone, but it’s finally coming to a close and prom is only a couple hours away. Everyone in the group has a date; Bellamy (finally) asked Clarke, Emori asked Murphy, Monty asked Harper, Miller asked Jackson, Octavia asked a guy named Lincoln, and Echo asked a guy named Roan. Zeke and Raven were the only ones without dates, and without anyone daring him to, he asked Raven to be his. 

She accepted right away. 

He rings her doorbell, and Raven answers, revealing herself in a beautiful maroon dress. It’s strapless with a slit up to her right mid-thigh, giving her free leg room to move. On her feet are black flats, her brace not capable of keeping her standing in heels. Her hair is pulled back into her signature ponytail, and there’s a braid on the top to spice it up.

She looks so stunning it’s hard for Zeke to breathe. 

Her dark lips settle into a smirk as she steps out of the house, locking the door behind her. “For me?” She asks as she points to the corsage in his hands, and he gulps as she takes it and walks down the pathway to the limo with everyone waiting inside. Zeke follows her with his eyes, and he can already tell tonight’s going to be a good night. 

They join their friends in the group rented limo, and they get to the dance in a short amount of time. Zeke helps Raven out of the car, and she rolls her eyes with a grin on her mouth. Group pictures and couples pictures are taken in front of the entrance, and everyone gushes over how cute they look. 

The party’s in full swing as they finally get inside, and pairs separate from the main batch. Raven and Zeke are left to fend for themselves, and they hop onto the dance floor for a couple minutes before laughing at each other and finding a table to sit at.

They switch back and forth for a couple hours, and a slow song finally starts playing after they’ve been sitting for about thirty minutes. Zeke stands to his feet and fixes his jacket, looking down at Raven who stares at him fondly.

“May I have this dance?” He bows jokingly, and she laughs her musical laugh in response. 

“Yeah, sure.” 

He takes her hand and then they’re on the floor, his hands comfortably resting on her hips and her delicate fingers tracing circles around his neck. Their eyes connect as they sway awkwardly because of her leg, and Zeke doesn’t think he’s the only one who feels the electricity.

Neither of them realize how close they are until their eyes fall closed, and someone chooses that moment to bump into Raven’s back. Their heads collide, and the two release a string of mild curses. Zeke hears a small “sorry” before the person shuffles away, and he laughs lightly as he puts his hand on his forehead and looks at the woman before him. 

She smiles back, and they make their way back to the lonely table. When they get there, they notice the table is full of their friends, and Clarke and Emori simultaneously raise their eyebrows at the two. 

“What?” Raven asks, and Clarke shrugs. 

“Why don’t we get out of here?” Miller suggests, and the group agrees. They go out to a cheap diner, and they have fun and laugh. After a couple hours, they’re back in the limo and slowly people are being dropped off at their homes.

When they reach Raven’s house, she turns to Zeke and kisses him on the cheek, her lips lingering before she pulls away. She smiles at his surprised expression, and she exits the car and shuts the door firmly without another word. 

vi.

Graduation is only two days away.

In two days, he will be a high school graduate, and the group will be splitting off to go to colleges around the country. Zeke got his acceptance letter from Virginia Tech, and it’s been painful to wait for Raven to choose between her acceptances to MIT or Virginia Tech. He hopes so much his heart hurts that she chooses to go with him, but he has to respect that she needs to do what’s best for herself, whatever that may be. 

Murphy’s throwing a “good old fashioned pool party,” and he claims it’s to “remember the good old times.” It’s been a while since they’ve swam in Murphy’s pool, and it feels good to relive some old memories from their childhoods. 

But now, the roles are switched. Raven can’t swim anymore because of her bum leg, the best she can do is sit or stand in the shallow end. Zeke watches her kick her leg under the water (totally not admiring her in a bikini), before swimming up to her and sitting on the same step they did years ago. 

“Oh how the tables have turned,” he jokes, and she smiles. “Have you decided yet?” He asks after a moment of silence, and Raven sighs. 

“I’m not sure. MIT’s a great school, but I want to be with you-“

“Hey, don’t base your decision on me. I don’t have a say in this,” he says seriously, and she looks at him with a sober look.

They stare at each other for a few seconds, before Raven finally closes the distance between them. 

The moment their lips meet is like the fireworks exploding at Clarke’s in ninth grade; beautiful, electric, and dazzling. Zeke’s heart pounds in his ears as their lips start moving and his hand rises to her cheek, her hands wrapping themselves around his neck. 

Years of hidden feelings and passion pour out from their lips, and suddenly Zeke knows what he’s secretly known all along. 

He’s in love with Raven Reyes.

She pulls away for breath, but not far enough to where they can’t easily kiss again. His eyelids open lazily to see her warm brown eyes, and she smiles. 

“You’ll always have a say in it. I want to be with you. I’m going to Virginia.”

His heart nearly explodes with the events of the past few seconds, and the one thing that escapes his mouth is “I love you.” 

The heat from her blush reaches his cheeks, and she says loud enough for him to hear, “And I love you.” 

They hear clapping from the other side of the pool, and they turn their heads to see all their friends cheering for them. “It’s a about damn time!” Murphy shouts, and a slap on his arm is heard. 

They chuckle to each other before coming together again, and Zeke knows that he wants to spend the rest of his life with this woman. 

And he’ll always be there for her, through anything and everything.


End file.
